


Pyrrhic

by Asparkofh



Category: Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Byakuya's life before Hopes peak, Character Study, Gen, He's a bit of a mess, and a perfectionist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 14:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14107014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asparkofh/pseuds/Asparkofh
Summary: "Pyrrhic (adj.) A type of success marked by the sign of multiple heavy losses."Byakuya Togami grows up in a world were the only option is success.





	Pyrrhic

He grows up with smiles that tells him that no one expects him to win. He's the youngest in line, and no one like him had ever won before. So people look at him and smiles softly, pity not even tried to be kept hidden. 

The oldest one in line barely looks at him. He is about ten years older than him and doesn't seem to expect anyone to ever get above him. He openly speaks about how he can't wait to take over the company and that he doesn't understand why they have to wait to give everyone a chance. Byakuya doesn't understand why he suddenly moves away from the country, the news stops ranking him the highest and everyone seems to forget his name. The only thing he do get at eight, is that he lost. He lost the game were the only option was success. 

He learns before the age of ten that failing is as bad as dying. One of the top guesses for the heir, the second oldest a people favorite is in the news for days. His fiancé reveals that he has been involved in dangerous black market stuff to get more money. After five days of news coverage, he disappears. Byakuya never hears anything about him ever again, and whenever he asks people tells him that he failed. He failed the game they say, never tells him that the actions were wrong just that he was found out. He failed. 

Byakuya doesn't fail a test. Nothing else than a hundred is enough, and failing isn't an option. They tell him that he's a genius already, that he could do great things. His life is a game, and failure is almost worse than death. 

He starts investing in stock mostly for fun. He doesn't have time for hobbies that he doesn't gain anything from, and he does gain something from stock. Some say that he shouldn't be allowed to invest, but they just lost against him and losing is failure. They're just a part of the percent that failing is equal to. He'd rather die that live there. 

He is too young they tell him. He's too young to win the game, he's too young to invest in stock, he's too young to be the heir. Sometimes he envies that kind of thinking. Mostly he sees them as fools. They had already lost, and he had no time to spend in something that didn't put him ahead. At thirteen his entire life is whether or not he would win. He is in the news every other day, and he rises through the ranks quicker than anybody else has ever done. At thirteen, he is the picture of perfection. At thirteen, he is enrolled into the company and he has to learn how it works. Except that there is no time for him to learn anything at all and the second he steps into the building he should already know everything. At thirteen he is announced to officially be the Togami family heir and then there's no one who tells him that he's too young. Not when he alone comes up with business plans that gets the entire company's worth up in mere days. 

People had wanted to destroy him since day one. The only thing that changed over the years was the amount of people who wanted to destroy him.  
When at thirteen he's officially called the heir, he is forced to cut all ties to his past life. It could be used against him, he knew this. He moves out from his mother's apartment and never see her again.

At thirteen he's won the game, the only choice he ever had, and is now expected to never fail again in his life. Success isn't just his only option, it's the only thing that's expected of him. Being enough isn't good enough. He had to be above it all. 

He goes to conferences and sits in meetings and handles press and invests in even more stock and comes up with business plans and acts like the face outwards. He won. So why didn't it feel like it?  
He acts perfect, isn't given an opportunity to act any differently. He's expected to be, and it doesn't take long until the only thing he is is what they expect of him. 

He learns too young to lie like he meant it. He learns too quickly to smile and act like he meant it. He's so charming they tell him and he smile and act modest. His life is a twisted mix of lying and success and there's no other option for him. He has to push every aspect of himself away, because that would never get him victory. Feelings wasn't necessary and he couldn't afford to spend time on anything other than what would lead him to success. 

He grows up seeing exactly how lies could ruin a person's life. He watches it all from the sidelines, makes a promise to never lose to that. Losing to a lie is just losing in the end. He knows how aspects of yourself is so undesirable that the only way to win is to push them aside, lie like they had never been there. He learns how to remove those traits in himself almost completely, so that he doesn’t technically has to lie. 

At fifteen Byakuya Togami is accepted into Hopes peak academy as the SHSL affluent progeny. He won the game were anything else than success was almost worse than death. So why does it still feel like he's playing it?

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and thanks for reading this far!  
> So I might have a weakness for character studies, especially at two am when I should be sleeping.  
> Togami's past just seems so interesting to me, so I made my own version of what I think it was like.  
> I seem to have a habit of putting my favorites through angst, but you know. I love them??  
> I don't really know what age he and his classmates were when they got accepted, but I imagine them to be around fifteen. 
> 
> As always, feedback is appreciated!  
> Asparkofh.


End file.
